Mini-Mudder Romp offers kids good dirty fun

We’ve all heard of good clean fun, but what about good dirty fun? Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum on the Lamar University campus will transform into a 23-obstacle mud run on June 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., as part of the museum’s second annual Great Outdoors Day.

The highlight of the event will be the Mini-Mudder Romp, a mud run for children ages 6-12 that will test their physical and mental endurance as they climb, roll, jump and crawl their way through the course. Registration is required for the Mini-Mudder with a $20 fee per child and $10 for adults running the No Child heat. Registration will be accepted until 11 a.m. on June 21. Admission for museum visitors and spectators is free all day. There will be monitors along the course to supervise the children as they run through and help them along. Every participant that completes the obstacle will receive a free T-shirt, said Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum education coordinator Judy Garcia.

“It’s not a race. It’s a physical endurance challenge,” said Garcia, who also explained some of the different obstacles families could expect.

“The obstacles correspond with the different buildings,” Garcia said. “We have one that’s called the Saloon Scurry where they are going to have to crawl underneath the net away from the saloon. Another one will be the Washday Whirlwind. They have to wash, rinse, wring and hang up a pair of pants and a shirt. We also have the Derrick Splash, where they are going to have to walk across a rope underneath one of the derricks and try not to fall into the water.”

And if the muddy course isn’t messy enough for participants, another obstacle will offer even more mucky fun.

“We have the Human Printing Press,” Garcia said. “They are actually going to roll over greased barrels and roll under a tarp to create the image of a printing press.”

Garcia said that the event is a good opportunity for children — who might be more accustomed to playing indoors on their laptops, iPads and gaming consoles — to get outside and get dirty for a change.

“The idea was just to develop a day to get kids outside to play, get dirty, and just have some old-fashioned fun outdoors,” she said. “I think it’s just part of life. You need to get outside and experience everything there is outdoors. I just feel like kids need to get outdoors and get moving.”

Garcia said Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum director Mark Osborne came up with the idea by looking at mudder events in other areas and decided to bring the fun to Boomtown’s Great Outdoors Day.

“He sat down and designed the course and the obstacles and how they would go,” she said. “Then I coordinated the volunteers and the things that we needed to make it happen.”

More than 60 participants have already registered for the event, Garcia said.

Adults can attempt the course at the end of the day in a No Child heat, and a special Tiny Mudder area will provide water and mud play for children 5 and younger. Other activities include several outdoor games, a disc golf course sponsored by the Golden Triangle Disc Golf Club, and special guests from Village Creek State Park, the Big Thicket National Preserve, Neches River Adventures, Big Thicket Outfitters, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Big Thicket Outlaws, Beaumont Camera Club, and Mathnasium of Port Arthur. Plus, the Lucas Gusher Re-enactment will take place at noon and 4 p.m.

Additional details may be found on the museum’s website at www.spindletop.org or by calling (409) 880-1750.

“The most rewarding part is interacting with the kids and seeing the expressions on their faces,” Garcia said of her job as education coordinator.

Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum is at 5550 Jimmy Simmons Blvd. at Highway 69 in Beaumont. Plenty of free parking is available.

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